


Show Me What I'm Looking For

by Hotspur



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Carolina Liar, Charleston (Location), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Show Me What I'm Looking For
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/pseuds/Hotspur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Angels took Manhattan, the Doctor met up unexpectedly with Romana.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show Me What I'm Looking For

She looked no different than the day they parted. Her long blonde hair shimmered in the late summer sun, her blue eyes reflecting the color of the harbor.

He looked completely different. He was still tall, but now he wore a tweed jacket and bowtie. His brown hair fell to one side, and green eyes scanned the harbor, looking for the answers in the horizon.

"Hello, Doctor."

He hugged her, holding her close and not letting go. "Hello, Romana." He was shaking in her arms, crying silently. 

"Shhh. I'm here. Stop crying," the Time Lady said. "What's happened?"

"I thought you were dead."

"I'd have given up hope too, but I knew I was alive, so it was kind of a foregone conclusion." 

He smiled sadly at his friend's wit. "Part of me believed you were safe, that you were still in E-Space," he said. 

"You aren't one to give up." She took his hand. "Come on, Doctor. It's a nice evening. Let's take a walk."

They walked along the harbor, watching the ships slowly make their ways in and out, carrying tons of goods. Every few minutes a plane streaked overhead. The hair was heavy with the smell of the end of summer. 

"So tell me, Doctor, where have you been since the War?" The Time Lady still held her friend's hand. 

"I've been everywhere. I've seen a lot. I've regenerated three times since..." his voice trailed off, and his lady friend squeezed his hand. "I see you haven't changed."

"I have, you just can't see it." The Time Lady looked out at the harbor, untold trials reflecting in her eyes.

"Maybe I've changed too," her companion looked down at their intertwined hands. "You know what happened?" He couldn't force himself to look her in the eyes. He couldn't bear to tell his old friend the things he had done.

"Yes. You know you're not alone. We're not alone."

"A friend of mine said that, before I found out the Master had survived. He was warning me about the Master."

"Tell me about your friend," the Time Lady said.

"His name was Jack Harkness. He was very brave, the bravest coward I've ever known. He died in the last battle of the Time War, when we fought the Emperor of the Daleks. She brought him back... but he's now immortal."

"She?"

"Did I say she?"

"You did, Doctor, don't try to lie to me. You can't do it. So you were traveling with a lady?" The Time Lady's eyes sparkled.

"Yes. Her name... her name was Rose." He looked back at her, sadly. " I lost her when the Daleks and Cybermen attacked. She was sent into another world. She defeated the Daleks twice, though. She was the Bad Wolf."

"I suppose you were close?"

The Time Lord didn't reply.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I hope you haven't been alone." She guided him to a barrier around a palmetto. He sat down, heavily, and she curled up next to him, still holding him close.

"There have been others. Martha, she was a doctor. Donna, my dear, brave Donna. You'd have gotten along, you and Donna Noble. Then there was Amy. Amelia Pond. The girl who waited. She waited twelve years for me, then I left her again, and then she came with me. We saw so many things, Romana. Dinosaurs and the beginning of the universe and Weeping Angels and Vincent van Gogh." The Time Lord leaned his head on his friend's shoulder. "She and her husband Rory. What a pair. He waited for her too. Two thousand years, all to keep her safe."

"They sound amazing," his lady friend replied. "But you always take the best."

"I did. I don't know if I can take anyone now."

"That's not my Doctor." The Time Lady stared at him, square jaw and floppy hair hiding a heartbroken face.

"I'm not him anymore. River... River told me that she didn't want me to be alone." He sighed. His wife wouldn't always be with him. Maybe it was for the best, as he never could quite reconcile their marriage and life with the horrible fact that he knew how she died. 

The Time Lady looked at him, not saying it but still asking who River was.

"River is my wife. River Song. We don't see each other much. Our timelines are all..."

"Wibbly-Wobbly?"

"Timey-wimey."

The two sat in silence, watching the sun set over the harbor.

"What are you doing here, Romana?"

"I'm still something of a traveler, just like you," she said. "I survived the War because I wasn't on Gallifrey. I heard that both Gallifrey and Skaro were... gone, and the rumors I gathered in different times said that the man who ended the War was the Oncoming Storm. I knew it was you."

"And you never told me you were alive," he said, his voice accusing. "I thought we were friends, Romana. You never thought to let me know that you were one of two Time Lords that I didn't kill. I loved you, Romana, and you left me alone."

"For the most part, I couldn't. Meeting you before now would disrupt the timestream, and sometimes I-" the Time Lady stopped. "I suppose Leela and Andred are dead." 

"Everyone on Gallifrey. Gone."

"I missed you, you know. You and the TARDIS and all our adventures."

"I missed you too. I miss a lot of people." He looked out again, as if he could will Gallifrey back through staring long enough.

"I suppose I came here because it's a nice city, they even named a dance for it. But anyway, tell me more about your friends. I'd like to hear about your adventures."

"I want to hear more of yours when I'm done," he said, and she agreed.

So he told her about the Slitheen from Raxacoricofallapatorius and the temp from Chiswick. He talked about the time he faced an empty child and how they kept seeing the words "Bad Wolf." He laughed remembering that his handsome, vain friend ended up as an ugly head, forced to live forever until he chose to give his life. He remembered with sadness the fires of Pompeii and the pain of leaving Rose. He burst into tears as he tried to tell her about the end of Donna Noble, who had been his best friend. It was too soon for him to recall these, the wounds of his most recent loss too raw.

"And then Amy... Amelia Pond and Rory... Rory was pulled out of our time and we went after him, but in the end... we lost Amy and Rory."

"We?" She asked, holding his hands.

"River and I. Amy and Rory were River's parents. They died, taken by the Weeping Angels." He buried his face in her shoulder. 

"Come on, Doctor. Let's walk some more. It will make you feel better." She pulled him up. They left the waterfront and walked downtown, dodging evening traffic and not letting the other go. The Time Lady could feel her friend's heart beats through his hand. Two hearts broken. As they walked under the light of street lamps, she could see how old the young man was. The years were taking their toll on both Lords of Time. 

They passed bright stores, swaying palmettoes, and restaurants. They stopped to read the posted menus, serving everything from the finest seafood to barbeque. The sensitive Time Lord ears picked up strains of a song from a restaurant's outside speakers.

Save me  
I'm lost  
Oh Lord, I've been waiting for you  
I'll pay any cost  
Just save me from being confused  
So show me what I'm looking for.

"I see why we both came here tonight. It's a marvelous city," the Time Lady said.

"Marvelous? You said it was nice," the Doctor teased.

"That's my Doctor," Romana said, ruffling his hair like a big sister. 

The Doctor took her hand like a big brother. "Let's go find what we're looking for."

And they ran.


End file.
